William Andrew Burnson

"I am a composer interested in the graphic representation of musical forms through symbols and shapes.

"This piece is called 'Bike Ride' (2007) and is written for solo piano and belongs to a larger set of solo piano pieces called 'Fixations' which is set of graphic score pieces I am currently composing. The dimensions of 'Bike Ride' are 32" X 18" and it is about 2 minutes in duration. Feel free to listen to the music at my website.

"To create the artwork, I wrote a software program to output vector-graphics commands to a PDF file. This process was simultaneous with the musical composition of the piece as I needed to constantly renegotiate the limited amount of space on the frame of the bicycle with the musical form.

"There are many ways in which the graphic form mimics the musical form: the spokes of the wheels are analogous to measure lines; the wheels and the gears have music that repeats; the rhythmic gestures are similar to pedaling; the left side is played with the left hand and the right side with the right hand; and so on. I am interested in creating this type of dual-natured art that functions in multiple ways."

William Andrew Burnson's AutoGallery exhibit